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Hollinger Corp. 
pH8.5 



108 



GREAT BRITAIN'S 
ACHIEVEMENTS 



BY 



HAMILTON BELL 



G. ARNOLD SHAW 

GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL 
NEW YORK 

Date of Issue, November i, 1917 






^•-Wjr'v 






Great Britain's Achievements 



An American author has astutely summed up the British attitude 
towards the war somewhat thus : — 

The British are incorrigibly shy. They will commit efficiencies, 
but nothing will induce them to talk about them. 

One reason is that they are a subjective and introspective people. 
Their whole occupation is with character. In the text books of the 
Naval Technical Schools, where boys of the rank and file are trained 
in thousands as seaman and gunners, this is the first requisite insisted 
on. A boy must have character; having developed this he may try to 
develop his intelligence; next comes health. Having these, in this 
order, he is ready to proceed with his education. 

This results in the national passion for personal liberty. What 
a man does is what matters — what he knows is secondary. British 
achievements are nothing, British character is everything. 

Almost every writer of distinction that Great Britain has pro- 
duced has told them that they are stupid and they have placidly 
adopted it as a conventional self-depreciation- — but it makes not the 
slightest dent in their actual self-confidence. 

A typical instance of this may be found in the reply of Lord Robert 
Cecil, a prominent member of the present British Government, to a 
question, put to him in the House of Commons, designed to commit the 
Foreign Office to the admission of a muddle. He replied that the Gov- 
ernment remained in office because the House of Commons allowed it 
to. As long as the House of Commons allowed it to remain in office it 
would continue to govern.- It would govern as well as it could, doubt- 
less however, in view of enormous difficulties in the case it would 
continue to govern badly. 

In the same way they make little of the heroism of their country- 
men ; this is not altogether due to their innate prejudice against 
personal revelation. Heroism is more or less a glorification of war 

3 



and as a people the British are anti-military, they are anti-war, and 
anti-violence, anti-heroic; humorous stories of the war are ten times 
more numerous among them than heroics ; they secrete their efficien- 
cies and suppress their heroisms. 

They are anti-violence. The number of murders in all England 
and Wales during the ten years 1904-1913 was 2,982; in the same 
ten years the number of murders in Chicago and the Borough of 
Manhattan totalled 3,561. 

Against authority as authority the British people set up not 
merely regulations but the constant threat of simple disobedience. 
Officers resigned from the British Army when they thought they were 
to be sent to fight the Ulster men in 1914. 

Similarly officers, among them Sir Geoffrey Amherst, General 
Conway, Lord Frederick Cavendish, the Earl of Effingham and many 
others resigned from the British Army in 1776 rather than take part 
in a war against the American Colonies of which they did not approve. 
The Corporation of the City of London gave the Earl of Effiingham 
a sword and a vote of thanks for preferring the Cause of the Colonies 
to that of the Crown. 

Let us not forget that it was not only Statesmen like Burke 
who resented and did their best to obstruct and nullify the action of 
George III, who was not only a German brought up by a singularly 
wrong headed German Mother, but was also insane, having had 
several serious attacks, early in his reign, before the final complete 
giving away of his mind in 181 1. 

All this produces a people the very antipodes of the Germans. 
The German Government symbolizes authority more perfectly than 
any other in the world. The war to the British, therefore, is a war 
against the very principle of unrestricted authority and its most 
powerful engine — war. 

A free Government can never employ that engine as promptly as 
a Government incarnating ruthless unrestricted authority. 

As soon as Belgium was invaded the whole British people desired 
this war. So far as a nation of free men can be a unit, Great Britain 
was a unit then and is at this moment for war with no end until the 
goal is reached. 

They desire it, they are a unit for it in the same spirit as Words- 
worth's "Happy Warrior," 

4 



"Who if he be called upon to face, 

"Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined, 

"Great issues, good or bad, for human kind, 

"Is happy as a lover, and attired 

"With sudden brightness, as a man inspired:" 

that inspiration, that Happiness of dedication one does indeed see in 
England — but, apart from such spiritual elevation, the British began 
with detesting war as an external act and detest it now. 

This much being premised let us glance at what Mrs. Humphrey 
Ward calls "England's Effort," Great Britain's part in the War. 
We will do this in no spirit of vain-glory, but soberly and modestly 
record what has been done, what is being done and what will continue 
to be done to the end. The German propaganda in this and in the 
neutral countries has persistently fostered the belief that Great Britain 
has been, and is, leaving the work to be done by her Colonies and 
Allies, so that it becomes necessary for even the shy, reserved and 
inexpressive Briton to lift a corner of the veil which shrouds his 
activities. 

Despite a certain amount of not very intelligent carping at the 
seeming inactivity of the British Navy, it is generally admitted that 
unless it had been, as it was, ready to the last man and the last gun 
on August 4th, 1914, Germany's task would have been much easier — 
that she might have achieved her aim and defeated the Allied Powers 
in detail. As it was. Great Britain, at once assumed command of the 
seas and has kept it ever since, for despite the U boats, in 1916, 
43,000,000 tons of which 14,333,000 tons were food stuffs, munitions 
and war material, entered her ports, as against 58,000,000 in 1913. The 
exports and imports in the port of New York for the years ending 

June 30th, 1917, were valued at $8,900,000,000 

1916, " " " $6,531,000,000 

" " 1915, " " " $4,443,000,000 

19 14, " " " $4,259,000,000 

The Right Hon. Arthur Balfour was able to announce that 
"the growth in our navy which has gone on and still is going on, is 
something of which the general public has not the slightest concep- 
tion." "In the matter of munitions alone we have as many men work- 
ing for our Navy as France for her glorious and superbly equipped 
Army," and again in September, 1916, he said : "The tonnage of the 
Navy has increased by well over 1,000,000 tons since the war began." 
The tonnage on July ist, 1914, was estimated at 2,713,756 (World 
Almanac). 

5 



Admiral Hornby of the British Navy said: "I consider I have 
command of the sea when I can tell my Government that they can 
move a force to any point without fear of enemy interference." The 
facts speak for themselves, the Allied ships whether men-o'-war or 
merchantmen, are at sea. Where are the German ships? After the 
Declaration of war in August, 1914, no ship left a German port nor 
any foreign port if bound for Germany. A few German warships were 
afloat on the oceans of the world, but before the end of five months 
they were all sunk or interned. 

The British and Germans both claini victory in the Battle of Jut- 
land. We have announced our losses, Germany has concealed hers 
even from her own people ; the great naval port of Wilhelmshaven has 
been sealed so effectively that no patriotic German can look upon his 
victorious ships. What does the result seem to indicate? The British 
blockade is more stringent than ever. Do the German ships go to 
sea since that fight? No. Do the ships of the Allies? Yes. 

And what of the British Merchant Marine which in 1916 totalled 
about 15,000,000 tons? 14,000,000 tons of these are employed in home 
service and 6,500,000 tons were in the Government service until 
October, 1916, when the Government took control of all British ship- 
ping. In that month Sir Edward Carson told the House of Commons 
that since the outbreak of the war, 8,000,000 men have been transported 
from all parts of the Empire together with over 1,000,000 sick and 
wounded; over 1,000,000 horses and mules; 9,420,000 tons of supplies 
and munitions and 47,504,000 gallons of petrol have been carried for 
their use to all the widely scattered battlefields of this colossal world 
war. Besides this more than 25,000 ships have been searched for 
contraband of war. 

Despite the great and ever increasing risks the men of this vast 
organization have cheerfully defied them and gone to sea as usual. 

In 1914 the British Navy mustered 140,000 officers and men, it 
now (1917) has 400,000; the merchant marine many times more. 

It is sufficient testimony to the work done by the British Fleet in 
this war to say that if it were eliminated from the contest the war 
would end in Germany's favour and her invasion of the practically 
defenceless United States would be instantaneous. Bankrupt Ger- 
many has boasted that she expects this country to pay the most 
colossal indemnity ever exacted by a conquering nation and she would 
come for it without a moment's delay — and get it. 

The British financial policy in the war has been the embodiment 
of the will of the people about the war as a whole : Thorough ! In this 

6 



spirit it has borne the heavy taxations necessary to meet its obliga- 
tions and keep the national finances on a sound basis. It has, with true 
democratic patriotism, refused to impose the monetary cost on the 
future and is giving- of its funds as of its blood to purchase peace and 
prosperity for the generations to come. It has, since the beginning, as 
President Wilson advised this nation, met as much as possible of the 
cost of war out of revenue, and is not, as the German Finance Minister 
announced, leaving the settlement of the war bill to the conclusion 
of peace, and the time after. 

Let us see what this means. The war is costing the British nation 
thirty-one and a third millions of dollars a day. 

From August i, 1914, to March 31, 1917, her expenditures were: 

Normal peace expenses $ 2,760,000,000 

Advances to Allies, etc 4,800,000,000 

Other war expenses 13,825,000,000 

Total $21,385,000,000 
Her Receipts : 

Tax yield $ 5,410,000,000 

Borrowings 15,975,000,000 



Total $21,385,000,000 
Of the $15,975,000,000 borrowed, $9,830,000,000 have been raised at 
home by war loans, and in addition, 500,000,000 of War Savings Certifi- 
cates have been taken up by the British people in small amounts. 

If we deduct the loans to Allies, which will be eventually repaid, 
we find that Great Britain has raised One dollar to every 2.56 spent. 
Surely a satisfactory handling of national finance. 

The provision for the redemption of her indebtedness is equally 
satisfactory. So that if peace comes next year the English tax payer 
will have no fresh burdens to face ; Germany, in view of the fact that 
she will be able to collect no indemnities, will have to pay at least 
three times as much as before the war. 

The result of this sound financing and the readiness and ease with 
which it has been supported at home is the maintainance of British 
credit abroad. Up to the end of 1916, the Bankers of the United States 
had lent to Great Britain $1,125,000,000, to Germany, only $20,000,000. 
There was no possible compulsion either way. The United States was 
at war with neither nation. The difference represents the opinion of 
the American public of the ultimate solvency of the two European 
nations. 

7 



This is corroborated by the value of the Pound English, and the 
German Mark respectively; in exchange in Amsterdam, which is 
practically equidistant from London and Berlin, the pound sterling 
has depreciated only 3% while the mark has fallen 37J^%. 

The enemy is fond of asserting, and its assertions have been given 

wide publicity through the terribly efficient German propaganda, that 

England began the war. Contradicting herself in the same breath 

with the familiar sneer about the "Contemptible Little Army." Alas ! 

at the opening of the war the sneer was only too well justified since 

the entire British Army at that date consisted of only 450,000 men, 

including reserves and special reserves ; of these over 100,000 men were 

serving in India, Egypt, South Africa and other parts of the Empire. 

The result was that the Expeditionary Force which Great Britain was 

able to transport to France under cover of darkness on the nights of 

August I2th and 13th, 1914, eight days after the Declaration of War, 

was only about 80,000 to 90,000 men ; 15,000 horses and 400 guns. Truly 

from the point of view of the fully prepared enormous German Army 

of about 9,000,000, a despicable little force. Is it conceivable that Great 

Britain, with such an army, began the war against such odds. Small 

though the force was, it is doubtful if so large a one has ever been 

carried over seas, absolutely without loss, in so short a time, in history ; 

the hours of darkness in England in August are not more than seven. 

Four days before this, on August 8th, Lord Kitchener had called for 

100,000 men. In two weeks, by August 22nd, he had them. In the fifth 

week of the war, September 2-8, that which the disastrous retreat from 

Mons ended, a quarter of a million men volunteered (250,000), 30,000 

of them in one day. By the end of September 1,000,000 men were 

enlisted and the daily increase was steady. It has been said that the 

volunteering in Great Britain hung fire and had not assumed any 

efficient proportions until stimulated by the Zeppelin raids. These 

are the official facts — A steady stream of volunteers towards the 

Colours had produced 1,000,000 at the end of September, 1914, seven 

or eight weeks after Kitchener's call had rung through the Empire. 

By January 19th, 191 5, when the first Zeppelin attacked our Coast, 

we may assume from a quarter to half a million more men, since 

by July, 2,000,000 had enlisted voluntarily — and from October to 

December (inclusive) of the same year 2,250,000 more, making a total 

of 4,250,000 VOLUNTEERS to their country's service. The first 

serious Zeppelin raid over London did not occur until the end of 

May, 1915, by which time as we have seen, 1,250,000 to 1,500,000 had 

joined. On February loth, 1916, the Military Service Act came into 

force ; but since on May 2nd, Mr. Asquith, then Prime Minister, stated 

that in the twenty-one months of war Great Britain had enlisted over 

8 



5,000,000 men it is clear that Conscription, instead of providing the 
bulk of our armies-, had only added a matter of 750,000 men to an 
overwhelming preponderance of volunteers. This then is the stature 
to which our "contemptible little army" has grown. We have to-day 
3,000,000 men serving on all fronts ; in France and Flanders, in Italy, 
in Salonica, in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, Galicia, East Africa, 
wherever an Ally needs help. Over 2,000,000 of these are on the 
Western Front, composed of 1,670,000 from the British Isles, 139,000 
Canadians, the same number of Australians and New Zealanders, 
12,000 Indian troops and 6,000 South Africans.* Besides these, nearly 
another million is employed in the ordinary duty of garrisoning the 
enormous British Empire, and 2,000,000 in reserve in the British Isles 
to be drawn on as needed at the Front ; which is incessantly, for when 
it is realized that the monthly casualties are often as big as 28,000 it 
may be seen what huge drafts are required to fill up gaps. 

The statement however has been authorized that neither in 
England, Ireland or India, are there any fully trained troops. 

Let us now briefly study its achievements. 

When the British Troops first faced the Germans on August 23rd, 
1914, they were outnumbered five to one by the enemy before them. 
This was at Mons, about 35 miles S. W. of Brussels. By the evening 
of the 25th they had been forced to retire, fighting steadily, to a line of 
about 15 miles between Cambrai and Le Cateau; here they made a 
gallant stand on the 26thi but had to continue the retreat with a loss of 
between seven and eight thousand men and about eighty-four guns ; 
these last the greater number of the total which have been lost during 
the entire war. 

Fighting continually, the retreat lasted in all nine days, till Sept. 
2nd, found them with unbroken lines even stronger by compression, 
on the Marne, South West of Meaux, the furthest point to which we 
were driven being a line between Courtegon and Lagny which is only 
17^ miles from Paris. 

On Sept. 6th, the tide turned. Sir John French called on the British 
Army "to push on vigorously to the attack." The retreat was ended 
never to recommence. The advance of the British was made in unison 
with the French Fifth Army on their right, their duty was to keep 
in constant touch with the retreating Germans ; this was done, but for 
the first two days the brunt of the fighting was borne by the French. 
On the 9th the Army was back at the Marne and across it ; by the night 
of the 13th, they had fought their way across the Aisne and the Battle 

*There are of course many thousand more Colonial troops in training, 
both in England and at home. 

9 



of the Marne had been won. For the first time since the days of the 
great Napoleon, a Prussian army had been turned and driven. "The 
Invincible" had been defeated. The Battle of the Aisne continued 
until Sept. i8th when both sides had dug themselves in permanently 
on this front. Strategically and economically the war was won by the 
Allies when their fleets had dominated the maritime lanes of the world 
and the Battle of the Marne had saved France from destruction. 

It had cost the British some 10,000 men, and they had already lost 
from 12,000 to 15,000 in the retreat from Mons. 

It is satisfactory to reflect that the German losses had been at 
least as heavy and were now to increase, whereas ours lessened from 
that time, although the enemy was able at this time to fire ten shells 
to the Allies one. 

Early in October the total losses of the Army on the Aisne had 
been 561 officers and 12,980 men. 

Throughout the sufl'erings of the troops from cold and wet were 
great and they had lost waterproofs and overcoats and changes of 
clothing but it is comforting to note the Commissariat never failed 
them, and the percentage of sickness was lower than the normal rate 
of a garrison town. 

The heavy Artillery of the Allies and their air services were im- 
proving from day to day. 

The activities of the British were now to be transferred to another 
region. 

On October 3rd the new plans called for the moving of the entire 
British force to a line North from Bethune and La Bassee to the sea, 
their places on the Aisne being taken by the French. This delicate and 
difficult operation whereby an army of more than 100,000 men had to 
be replaced by an equal number, in trenches which were often not 100 
yards from the enemy, was accomplished without disaster by night 
and the first divisions reached Bethune, nearly 100 mlies as the crow 
flies, ready for action, the last reaching St. Omer on the nth. 

They went mainly on foot though the Infantry were transported 
part of the way by train and motor bus. 

There is no denying that the length of our line at this time was 
lamentably short, but it must be remembered that to hold it we had 
only the skeletons of the heroic divisions of the regular army which 
had sacrificed themselves and continued to do so in a hundred fights 
from Mons to Neuve Chapelle and which had been filled up twice over 
with reservists, plus a limited number of territorial battalions, and 
three divisions of the Indian contingent. It was not until the spring 
of 191 5 that the first division of Colonial troops brought their welcome 

ID 



aid, the Canadians to France and the Australians and New Zealanders 
to Egypt and the other points in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

From October nth to November nth this gallant little army- 
fought an incessant battle along its whole line, which swayed back- 
wards and forwards under the endless attacks of the flower of the 
German Army. 

A few instances of the way the British sacrificed themselves. 
6oo,cxK) Germans set out to break the British line at Ypres and were 
beaten back by half their number. The British losses were 50,000, the 
Germans at least 150,000 and the line they attacked holds to-day, 
where it has not been advanced into the enemy's lines. 

General Smith-Dorien's Army of 37,000 men, lost I0,000 in 
August, 10,000 in November, and 5,000 in October, by the 22nd of 
which month less than 50% of the original officers and men were with 
the Colours. The seventh Division of 18,000 men was reduced in three 
weeks of the first battle of Ypres to 2,336, and on November 5th had 
to be withdrawn from action, though it performed one other gallant act 
before retiring on November 7th. Lawford's 22nd Brigade, reduced to 
1,100 men with 7 officers was called upon to retake a line of trenches 
which had just been lost. This it triumphantly did, and at the end 
of the day there were left of the brigade the General in command 
with three officers and 700 men. The losses of this brigade figure out 
at 97% of the officers and 80% of the men — enormous as this loss is 
it was little in excess of the other brigades of the Division, which, as 
said above, was withdrawn, numbering 44 officers and 2,336 men after 
three weeks fighting. That this is not an isolated case may be seen 
by the instance of the 4th Royal Fusileers of the 9th Brigade, which 
was reduced to two officers and 100 men, the 2nd Queens, 2 officers 
and 60 men, the 2nd Welsh, 3 officers and 93 men ; one regiment alone, 
the Coldstream Guards, has been wiped out and reconstituted no less 
than 21 times since the war began. These portentous losses are not 
to be wondered at when we realize that in the beginning of the Battle 
of Ypres 5,000 British soldiers, with practically no artillery, faced and 
drove back an army corps of picked German troops who had an 
abundance of every sort of munitions, under the eyes of their Emperor. 
The losses of the brief campaign on all sides, Belgian, French, British 
and German have been estimated to be nearer 300,000 than 250,000. 
By the end of November both sides had dug themselves in for the 
winter and what was left of the British regular army, suffering untold 
misery and discomfort in the trenches, for trench warfare was new 
then, held the hard won lines until Spring. Even when that came and 
with it some of the first reinforcements, which it had been possible to 

II 



train into something like efficiency, we had not an army of attack. De- 
fence was all it was capable of and yet it had to attack again and 
again without enough men, enough guns, or enough ammunition. 
In this last item alone the Germans could and did fire 250,000 shells 
to our 50,000, — 5 to I throughout this year. 

The army had to attack without a shadow of a chance of success 
and it did it; Neuve Chapelle, Hulluch, Loos where the territorials 
dribbled a football into action, like the school boys they were, will 
suffice as instances. 

Nevertheless, behind them, their country was working at fever 
heat, volunteers came swarming into the army, the factories worked 
day and night, Canadian troops began to arrive in Dec* and made a 
splendid start by repelling a German advance North of Ypres. After 
the failure of the Anzac troops to perform the impossible at the Dar- 
danelles, where they none the less covered themselves with glory, they 
too were transferred to the Western front, where they are fighting 
with the same magnificent gallantry. Let it not be forgotten that 
these Colonial Troops were not compelled to come or even urged 
unduly, all was left to their good will and the response has been over- 
whelming. The same is true of the South Africans ; the loyal element 
in that Dominion easily crushed a small revolt engineered by Germans 
and then proceeded without the aid of a single British Batallion to 
the conquest of the German Colonies in Africa. India too despite every 
effort of enemy sedition, has rallied nobly to the defence of the Empire 
and sent troops in unexpected number to fight side by side with their 
British "Oppressor." Thus before the year 1915 was at an end we 
had taken over Arras and the neighbourhood and released the sorely 
needed French troops for the defence of Verdun. On the conclusion 
of the 1915 campaign, about October 9th, the British army had sacri- 
ficed 493,294 men of which number 6,660 officers and 94,992 non-com- 
missioned officers and men had been killed. A truly appalling loss, 
particularly in the vitally necessary class of officers, and one would 
think a sufficient answer to the baseless accusation, German inspired, 
that "England is saving her man power at the expense of her Allies." 

On the British side the great event of the year 1916 was the titanic 
Battle of the Somme which is reckoned as beginning on the ist of 
July on a twenty mile front from 10 miles north of Bray on the north 
bank of the river to about an equal distance to the south of it. 

It raged furiously and incessantly for three months, but by this 

*Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry arrived in the trenches before 
Christmas, 1914, and served in the Battle of St. Eloi early in 1915. 

The first Canadian Division arrived by the middle of February, and did 
splendid service at Neuve-Chapelle on the loth of March, 1915. 

12 



time fortunes of war had changed sides and the losses were German ; 
when the fighting died down at the approach of winter the Allies had 
taken 80,000 prisoners of which the British had taken half, 500 to 600 
guns and more than 1,000 machine guns. 

What their total losses were we may not know but it is certain 
that of the 38 divisions engaged, 28 had to be withdrawn, exhausted or 
broken. So it has continued until to-day; on July ist, 1917, it was 
officially announced the French and the British on the Western front 
had captured more than 200,000 Germans, over 1,000 guns, besides 
immense quantities of machine guns and war material. In the three 
day Battle of Arras in the Spring of 1917, the British took 30,000 
prisoners and about 225 guns, many of them of heavy calibre together 
with very many machine guns and munitions. And so it goes on 
prosperously. 

In the month of August, 1917, the British took 7,279 prisoners 
including 158 officers ; a total of 10,697, including 234 officers, since the 
morning of July 31st; we took also 6 heavy and 32 other guns, 200 
machine guns and 73 trench mortars. 

Except for a slight retirement at Nieuport recently. Sir Douglas 
Haig's armies have been attacking for nearly two years — with uniform 
and steady success owing to the gigantic power which the British 
artillery and air service has now developed. During the last eighteen 
months we have captured the bulk of our 131,776 German prisoners, 
a fine showing compared with the total of 30,000 British prisoners 
taken by the Germans during the war. The Germans admit losses of 
116,000 in May, 1917; their losses in June were estimated at 114,000. 
On October 4, 1917, General Maurice was able to announce that the 
British had captured in the first nine months of this year, 51,435 
German prisoners and 332 field and heavy guns ; losing in the same 
time, 15.065 prisoners and no guns. Our casualties have decreased in 
this time nearly 4,000 a week, owing to the perfect work of our artil- 
lery; the German casualties being 75% greater than the British. 

Comment is rife on the comparatively short part of the total West- 
ern front still held by the British, about two-fifths of the whole, but it 
must be remembered that a great portion of this whole is what is 
known as "dead line" very lightly held by both sides. It is no vain- 
glorious boast and in no way disparages the truly colossal and mag- 
nificent achievement of the glorious French army to say that for many 
months past the British army has opposed the bulk of the German 
forces. At the present time, it is estimated by the most competent 
authorities that Germany has in the field 4,500,000 soldiers with 1,000,- 
000 in depot and 500,000 in lines of communication. Not more than a 
million, German, Austrian and Turks together, are employed on the 

13 



Eastern front and less than 100,000 of these are Germans. The rest of 
their forces have been available for defence at any point on the West- 
ern Front that may be threatened. A very brief glance at the history 
of the fighting will show when and where these forces have been con- 
centrated, and no small percentage of the critical points will be found 
to have been on the British Fronts. Moreover, remember that the 
British Army has from the first been at the disposition of the French 
Generalissimo, who has placed it where he needed it most. 

We have seen that the greater part of the British losses in the 
early part of the war were chiefly due, not to the smallness of her 
army, which fought as a British Army always does, with the extreme 
of gallantry and self-devotion, but to the lack of artillery and munitions 
without which the bravest troops must charge in vain an enemy over- 
whelmingly supplied with these imperative necessities. Trench war- 
fare to-day is siege warfare, the storming of fortifications of hitherto 
unprecedented strength ; thus it was that during the retreat from 
Mons and the subsequent advance to the Marne, the Aisne and to the 
line from the sea to Arras, particularly in such actions as the first 
battle of Ypres, and that at Neuve Chapelle our losses were so appall- 
ing. We simply had not the weapons with which to destroy the 
enemy's emplacements, but had to take them by coup-de-main, sheer 
impact of gallant flesh and blood to shell and machine gun fire, 
facing which, barbed wire entanglements had to be cut by hand at an 
inconceivable cost in lives. 

In May, 191 5, when the Germans were producing 250,000 shells 
a day, most of them high explosive, we could only produce a total of 
2,500 high explosive and 13,000 shrapnel. It should not be forgotten 
that the basis on which this war is being fought — trench fighting, 
Vv'hich under the new conditions is besieging strong fortresses — was 
totally unprecedented and its needs could not possibly have been for- 
seen by anyone. Until July ist, 1916, the Germans had the superior- 
ity. The battle of the Somme, which lasted from Jtily ist to the 
middle of November, gave it to the Allies. We have now more men, 
more guns, and more ammunition than they and the British output of 
shells alone exceeds the German maximum, which cannot be increased 
v/hile Great Britain's is increasing daily. 

This astounding result has been achieved by the united efforts of 
the entire nation. In 1914 Great Britain had three national arsenals. 
She now has over one hundred, all working day and night. In addition 
to these she has four thousand five hundred and eighty-five Govern- 
ment controlled factories, all producing supplies and munitions of war. 
Over three million men and one million women are at work in these 
industries alone. October 2, 1917, the Board of Trade reports that 

14 



there are 4,538,000 women employed in the trades under its control. 
This does not include women employed in small workshops, or on the 
land, and of course not domestic servants, or the noble army of nurses 
and V. A. D. Taking- the annual output of guns before the war 
as 100 in each case, we are now turning them out at the rate of : — 

Heavy guns 1,089 per annum 

Medium guns, 6-in 3,600 " " 

Howitzers, 4-5-in. 654 " " 

Quick-firing 18 pounders 135 " " 

Machine guns 2,710 " " 

So with shells of all sizes, we are making to-day five hundred and 
seventy-five times as many shells in a week as we were in May, 191 5, 
when the Ministry of Munitions was established, the major part of them 
being of the heaviest and most needed type ; and all these are being 
made in the British Isles and do not include what we have bought 
from the United States. Housing, clothing and equipment of all sorts 
had to be provided for the huge numbers of men who flocked to the 
Colours. There was nearly a year and a half of what the War Office 
succintly calls the "Tatterdemalion Stage." Seventeen breathless 
months of strain and stress, wherein, with blood and tears the nation 
paid for its unpreparedness, and the thin line in France, imperfectly 
equipped, struggled desperately to hold back the oncoming avalanche ; 
but they did it, we have just seen how, and by January, 1916, the 
deficiencies were made good and we were even manufacturing for 
our Allies. 

It was the same story with the training. On August I2th-i3th, 
1914, nearly every man in the British Army who knew his job, from 
officers commanding, down to the cooks, departed overseas, and 
hardly a nucleus of experts was left to train the new armies. By 
what super-human efforts their places were filled would make a fasci- 
nating story but it is too long to tell here ; suffice it to say that during 
the first five months of the war, most of the subalterns of the line in 
the new armies had to train themselves, in the intervals of training 
their men ; is it to be wondered that they paid the price with their 
lives? Untrained, leading untrained men, unsupported by the guns, 
shells and many protective devices that have since been developed as 
defensive against the various and hitherto undreamed of devilish wea- 
pons of a barbarous enemy, they never hesitated a moment to count 
the cost but came to the call of their threatened Motherland from the 
farthest borders of her Empire and laid down their lives for her with- 
out faltering. And as they were, so were their men. Never again 
raise the lie that they or the race that bred them are slackers and are 
skulking behind their Allies in the greatest war for freedom the world 
has ever waged. j_ 



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I- IS.? 




SUiMMARY No. i 





HOME WORK. 






ARMY. 




A. 






C. 


I. 


Volunteering'. 




I. 


Volunteering. 


2. 


Munitions. 




2. 


German Army. 


3- 


Women. 




3- 


Shells. 


4- 


Boy Scouts. 




4- 


Aeroplane Losses — 1917. 


5- 


Y. M. C. A. 




5- 

6. 
7- 


Ground Recovered by 

Allies. 




NAVY WORK. 


Percentage of Killed. 
German Territory Held 




B. 






by British. 


I. 


Navy. 




8. 


German Prisoners. 


2. 


Tonnage-Shipping. 




9- 


Proportion of Troops- 


3- 


Carriage. 






United Kingdom and Do 


4- 


Imports. 


D. 




minions. 




WHAT THE 


QUAKERS 






HAVE DONE. 



5- 



E. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

INFORMATION. 

What America Thinks of 
of the Chances of Victory. 
What Neutrals Think of 
the Chances of Victory. 
What England Has Done 
for France Alone. 
What the Britisher Pays 
Towards the Cost of the 
War. 
Bonmots. 

17 



A. Home Work 



VOLUNTEERING IN GREAT 
BRITAIN. 

Aug. 8, 1914. Lord Kitchener 
called for one hundred thousand 
men. He got them in two weeks. 

From Sept. 2 to 8 — the fifth 
week of the war two hundred and 
fifty thousand men volunteered. 
Thirty thousand in one day. 

By September 30. One million 
men had volunteered and were in 
the army. 

July, 191 5. Two million volun- 
teers. 

December, 191 5. Four million 
two hundred and fifty thousand 
men had enrolled. 



Feb. 10, 1916. 
came into force. 



r 



onscription 



May 2. Over five million men 
had enlisted in twenty-one months 
since beginning of the war, only 
three-quarters of a million of 
whom had not volunteered. 

Those who were too old for ser- 
vice formed themselves into Vol- 
unteer "Old Boy Brigades" two 
hundred and fifty thousand strong, 
armed, clothed, and equipped at 
their own expense for home de- 
fence. 



MUNITIONS. 

In the Fall of 1915: 

Germany was making and using 
250,000 shells per day. 

Great Britain was making and 
using 50,000 shells per day. 

Now Great Britain exceeds Ger- 
many's maximum output, which 
cannot be increased, while Great 
Britain's increases daily. 

Gen. Sir Wm. Roberston re- 
cently said that 200,000 tons of 
ammunition were used by Great 
Britain, in France alone, in five or 
six weeks, and she had a reserve 
of over fifty millions of shells. 



Before the war Great Britain 
had three National Arsenals. Now 
she has over Ninety, working day 
and night and four thousand five 
hundred and eight-five Govern- 
ment controlled factories. 



The British arsenals in 1917, 
put out in a single day as many 
heavy Howitzer shells as they 
produced in the whole of the first 
year of the war. 

In three days as many guns and 
as much high explosive as the 
total output of the first year of 
the war. 



19 



A. Home Work 



In 1917, the new national pro- 
jectile factories had a total length 
of fifteen miles ; as far as from 
City Hall, New York, to Yonkers 
or Mount Vernon, and a width of 
forty feet ; 10,000 machine tools 
in them; 17 miles of shafting 
driven by 25,000 horsepower of 
energy. Weekly output of pro- 
jectiles, 10,000 tons. 



the war is considerably over five 
millions. 



WHAT THE WOMEN OF 

GREAT BRITAIN ARE 

DOING. 

In 1914, there were fewer than 
200,000 women workers. In 1917, 
there are 800,000 making muni- 
tions; over 200,000 in engineer- 
ing, chemical, and metal works ; 
over 100,0000 in agricultural work. 
Hundreds of others employed on 
railroads, street cars, cabs,busses, 
and in banks and offices, etc. 

A recent Board of Trade report 
shows that there are now 4,538,000 
women and girls employed in 
classified trades under its jurisdic- 
tion. This does not include 
women employed in small work- 
shops, nor on the land; and of 
course not domestic servants. 
Neither does it count in the noble 
army of Naval, Military, Red 
Cross and other nurses and hos- 
pital helpers. 

It is certain that the total num- 
ber of British women workers in 



BOY SCOUTS IN GREAT 
BRITAIN. 

30,000 enrolled in 1914. Im- 
mediately on outbreak of war, 900 
went on coast-guard patrol. 

In 1916, 1900 are doing this 
duty. Over 50,000 are employed 
at the War Office, Admiralty and 
on other work. 15,000 have joined 
the Colours. 



YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN 
ASS'N MAINTAINS 

1000 huts or hostels in Great 
Britain, 150 in France and Fland- 
ers, others in Egypt, Mesopota- 
mia, Salonica, etc. 

Between 5000 and 6000 men 
slept in these in one week in May 
last. The Salvation and Church 
Armies are doing similar work. 



YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRIST- 
IAN ASS'N PROVIDES 

Meals for workers in munition 
and other factories at the rate of 
58,000 a week. 



21 



B. Navy Work 



THE BRITISH NAVY 

1914 140,000 men 

1917 400,000 men 

"The tonnage of the Navy has 
increased by well over one mil- 
lion tons since war began." — Rt. 
Hon. A. J. Balfour, Sept.. 1916. 



TONNAGE-SHIPPING. 

Ocean going vessels before war : 

17,000,000 to 18,000,000 tons, 
now 15,000,000 tons; of which 
14,000,000 tons are employed in 
home service ; of these, 6,500,000 
tons are in Government service ; 
1,000,000 more tons are used for 
Government service on outward 
voyages, but available for import 
trade returning. 

Since October, 1916, the Gov- 
ernment took control of all British 
shipping except the few ships al- 
ready chartered by British Colon- 
ies, France or Italy. 

The men have cheerfully sailed 
despite all the great risks. 



CARRIAGE. 
Oct. 30, 1916, Sir E. Carson in 
House of Commons. 

8,000,000 men have been carried 
across seas. Over 1,000,000 sick 
and wounded. 420,000 tons of 
supplies and explosives. Over 
1,000,000 horses and mules. 47,- 



504,000 gallons of petrol. Over 
25,000 ships searched for contra- 
band of war. 



IMPORTS. 



Before the war imports into the 
British Isles were about 58,000,- 
000 tons per annum, of which food 
stuffs were about 15,500,000 tons. 
In 1916, imports were about 43,- 
000,000 of which food stuffs, mu- 
nitions and material for their 
manufacture were about 14,333,- 
000 tons. 

1913- 

Foodstuffs 14,000,000 tons 

Raw Material 

Manuf. Goods 44,000,000 tons 



58,000,000 tons 

1916. 

Foodstuffs 15,000,000 tons 

Raw Material 15,000,000 tons 

Manuf. goods 13,000,000 tons 



43,000,000 tons 



What our Fleets are doing de- 
spite the submarines. The ex- 
ports and imports of merchandise 
in the port of New York for the 
year ending: 

June 30, 191 7 were $8,900,000,000 
1916 $6,531,000,000 

191 5 $4,443,000,000 

1914 $4,259,000,000 



23 



C. Army 



VOLUNTEERING IN GREAT 
BRITAIN. 

Aug. 8, 1914. Lord Kitchener 
called for one hundred thousand. 
He got them in two weeks. 

Sept. 2-8, 1914. The fifth week 
of the war. Two hundred and 
fifty thousand men volunteered. 
Thirty thousand in one day. 

By Sept. 30. One million men 
had volunteered and were in the 
army. 

By July, 191 5. Two million 
volunteers. 

By Dec, 1915. Four million, 
two hundred and fifty thousand 
men had enrolled. 

Feb. 10, 1916. Modified con- 
scription came into force. 

May 2, 1916. Over five million 
men had enlisted in twenty-one 
months since the beginning of the 
war, only three-quarters of a mil- 
lion of whom had not volunteered. 

These figures are for Great 
Britain alone, and do not include 
the magnificent eflrorts of the Do- 
minions and Colonies. 

Those who were too old for ser- 
vice, formed themselves into Vol- 
unteer "Old Boy's Brigade." two 
hundred and fifty thousand strong 



armed, clothed, and equipped at 
their own expense for home de- 
fence. 



GERMANY ARMY. 

AT THE BEGINNING 

OF 1917. 

Germany had on all 

fronts - - 4,500,000 men 

In Reserve Depots 1,000,000 men 
On Communicat'ns 500,000 men 



Total 6,000,000 men 

Germany's casualties in first 
half of 1917, 1,340,000. 



SHELLS. 
In the Fall of 191 5: 

Germany was making and using 
250,000 shells per day. 

Great Britain was making and 
using 50,000 per day. 

Now Great Britain exceeds Ger- 
many's maximum output, which 
cannot be increased, while Great 
Britain's increases daily. 

General Sir Wm. Robertson 
said that 200,000 tons of ammuni- 
tion were used by Great Britain, 
in France alone, in five or six 
weeks and she had a reserve of 
over fifty millions of shells. 



25 



■S5'-" 



C. Army 



AEROPLANE LOSSES— 1917. 

February ; 89 — of which 60 were 
Germans. April; 717 — of which 
369 were Germans. 

269 of these were brought down 
by British with a loss of 147. 



GROUND RECOVERED 
BY ALLIES. 

Since Sept. 5, 1914, when the 
German advance was checked at 
the gates of Paris, the Allies have 
recovered approximately eight 
thousand five hundred square 
miles of French and Belgian ter- 
ritory. This was before recent 
gains. 



PERCENTAGE OF 
KILLED. 



hundred recover to fight again. 



The British permanent losses- 
killed or permanently removed 
from the fighting lines in the first 
three years of the war are about 
one million. 

Germany's permanent losses in 
the same time are four millions. 



GERMAN TERRITORY 
HELD BY BRITISH. 

At the present time Germany 
holds NO BRITISH TERRI- 
TORY while Britain holds A 
MILLION SQUARE MILES of 
German Colonies. 



GERMAN PRISONERS. 



Of 20 men who go to the front, 
19 return. Only one in twenty Britain has four German pris- 

killed. oners to one Briton held by Ger- 

From 90 to 95 per cent of the many. 



27 



C. Army 

* 

Foreign Office, Sept. 7, 1917. the United Kingdom, mostly the 
The male white population of original Expeditionary Force of 
the Dominions as compared with the old Regular Army, which was 
the British Isles is one to three, all but entirely wiped out. 
The proportion of troops in the The reserves now in the United 
actual theatres of war is between Kingdom include men under 
five and six from the United King- training, trained men in reserve 
dom to one from the Dominions, to provide drafts for the British 
For the first eight months of armies in five theatres of war, 
the war, August 23rd, 1914, to sick and wounded, and the train- 
April, 191 5, no troops from the ing staffs labour and administra- 
Dominions were engaged on the trative units, who must remain at 
Western front. The retreat from the main base. 
Mons, the recovery of the lines of These do not reckon the troops 
the Aisne, and subsequently from garrisoning India and the other 
Dixmude to La Bassee, was en- outposts of the Empire through- 
tircly conducted by troops from out the world. 

Divisions engaged Casualties per division 

Battles of U. K. Dominions U. K. Dominions 

Somme 5^54 

Arras 3>4 17 6 

Ypres III 7 I 5 I 

Messines Ridge 2 i ii 13 



D. What the Quakers have Done 



IN THE DEPARTMENT 
OF THE MARNE RUINED 
BY THE GERMANS IN 
THE RETREAT OF 1914. 

By June, 1915, 150 British Quak- 



ers had rebuilt more than 400 
houses, and rehoused more than 
700 people. Provided ploughs and 
other agricultural tools, seeds and 
even poultry and cattle. This 
work goes steadily on in France. 



29 



\ 



E. Miscellaneous Information 



WHAT AMERICA THINKS 
OF THE CHANCES OF VIC- 
TORY: 

Up to the end of March, 1917, 
she had lent Germany $20,000,000 ; 
the Allies $2,381,867,000 of which 
Great Britain had $1,131,400,000. 

Since the U. S. came into the 
war, April 4th, 1917, she has lent 
—Germany nothing- — The Allies 
$7,000,000,000. 



WHAT NEUTRALS THINK 

OF THE CHANCES OF 

VICTORY. 

In Amsterdam which is about 
central between London and Ber- 
lin in April, 1917, the pound 
(English) was discounted 3% ; the 
mark (German) was discounted 
37/2%. 



WHAT ENGLAND HAS 

DONE FOR FRANCE 

ALONE. 

Britain was bound by no treaty ; 
she had agreed only to keep the 
seas and furnish a hundred thous- 
and men. She furnished two mil- 
Ion men and doubled her fleet. 

M. HENRI FRANKLIN 
BOULLION, President of the 
French Radical Party, on Lafay- 
ette Day, 1917, in New York. 



WHAT THE BRITISHER 

PAYS TOWARDS THE 

COST OF THE WAR. 

The Britisher with an income of 



$2500 per annum contributes to 
the cost of the war about : 

$1000 per annum. 

$ 255 of this Income Tax. 
The daily cost of the war to the 
British is over $35,000,000. 



Great Britain has been financ- 
ing herself and her Allies. 

The daily cost of the war to 
Great Britain is now $35,250,000. 



BONMOTS. 

BISMARCK SAID: 

"America is a fine fat hog, and 
when we're ready we'll stick it." 



KAISER WILHELM II. SAID 
TO AMBASSADOR GERARD: 

"I shall stand no nonsense from 
America after the war." 



THE REAL DANGER IS THE 
KAISER'S POWER TO SAY 
TO TWELVE MILLION SOL- 
DIERS: 

"GO OUT AND CONQUER 
FOR ME." 



NO NATION. IS SAFE IF 
THE KAISER WINS. 



If the Allies do not WIN the 
war, they have lost it. 

If Germany does not LOSE the 
war, she has won it. 

PAUL LENSCH 
In the Reichstag. 



31 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




